


Holidays are Hell (or Why the TARDIS never goes anywhere nice)

by ShyWhovian



Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drowning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Kidnapping, Not Really Character Death, Psychological Torture, Torture, the doctor will kill them all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-06
Updated: 2016-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-12 15:04:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7110487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyWhovian/pseuds/ShyWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perhaps going to a holiday resort planet hadn't been the Doctor's brightest idea, after all, there's a very good reason why the TARDIS never takes her crew there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holidays are Hell (or Why the TARDIS never goes anywhere nice)

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a dare by my girlfriend, who bet that I wouldn't be able to write a fanfic about Six and Peri where they kiss without arguing at all, so I took it upon myself to do so. It sort of ended up devolving into a multi chapter fic, so bear with me please. They'll kiss eventually, i swear they will! Enjoy.

Upon reflection the Doctor realized that perhaps his assessment of the holiday colony Garkon 5 had been a bit hasty. What had appeared at first to be a most wonderful and welcoming place for him, and his lovely companion Perpugilliam Brown, to have a small holiday after all their adventures, had, as it so often happened, turned out to be not so welcoming after all. As it turned out, the name holiday colony was in fact a trap to lure in unknowing customers, a fact of which even the Doctor had been blissfully unaware. Which is why, only a few hours after the pair had arrived and settled in, the occupants had shown themselves to be less welcoming than they had first appeared. They had drugged the two of them and dragged them off to separate rooms where they were ‘going to test them’’.

That was how the Doctor found himself in his current predicament, that is to say bound tightly to a chair in a sealed room with no visible windows or doors. The only interesting thing in the room, apart from the Time Lord himself, was a large viewing screen at which the Doctor was staring in horror. Onscreen, his companion Peri was being led into a room that was almost identical to his, except that there was no chair and, judging by her reaction there was no screen showing him.

He gazed on desperately, watching as his companion looked around in confusion, clearly wondering what was going on. That was a thought he shared, what was the point in all of this and why had they not done the same to Peri that they had done to him?

The answer to that question was made painfully clear when, at the top of the walls in Peri’s cell, two small holes appeared and water began to trickle out of them, slowly at first, unnoticed to even Peri, but gradually pouring into the room at an alarming pace. The Doctor’s hearts seemed to stop. Surely these people were not that cruel, they wouldn’t…would they? It became, however, increasingly obvious that they were, but how had they known that she couldn’t swim? Oh, of course, he realised in helpless frustration, the metal detector they'd had to step through must've contained a brain scanning device, able to pick up on any weaknesses a person had, but why?

He watched with a tortured expression. Onscreen, the girl looked utterly panic stricken as she ran to a wall, pounding on it furiously with her fist in the hope that it would open for her. It didn’t. 

By now, the water was over her ankles and the Doctor was struggling wildly in his bonds, trying to get free before it was too late. Escape seemed impossible, he couldn’t find the end of the ropes, and they were too tight for him to just slip off. The terrible truth began to dawn on him; this was what they’d meant by testing them. They were risking his Peri’s life merely for the enjoyment of seeing him stuck in a room, trying to escape and rescue her, all while they were safe in the knowledge that escape for either of them was utterly impossible. The monsters. Those cruel, pathetic, lowlife creatures were going to cause his companion's death. That thought made him see red, if he had been wild before, it was nothing compared to the violence with which he was trying to liberate himself now. It was one thing to hold him hostage and threaten to kill him but no one, not even himself, could get away with harming her that way.

His struggling had clearly triggered some hidden mechanism as suddenly his room was filled with the sound of running water and heartbreaking pleas for help. He grew still, closing his eyes as waves of emotion flooded over him. His hearts went out to her, the poor girl sounded utterly terrified and here he was trussed up like a turkey and of no use to anyone.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and turned his gaze back to the screen. The water now reached up to Peri’s chest and the young American had gone far beyond panic now and seemed to be on the verge of hyperventilation, silent tears rolling down her cheeks as she slowly realized that this time there may not be a rescue coming, though he could see in her eyes that she was still holding on to the faintest glimmer of hope that he'd come bursting through the door to rescue her; which, right now, he would gladly give up his own life to do, if only they'd let him. Peri’s chest was heaving, trying to take in as much oxygen as she could before it was all too late.

His struggles resumed. He refused to let her die like that, after all, he was a Time Lord, he could do anything he set his mind to, including breaking these impossible bonds, he thought stubbornly. He pressed against them with all of his strength, he would not be defeated by simple pieces of rope no matter how impossible they seemed to be, his Peri needed him. Slowly, the pressure grew too much for them and with a loud cracking sound the ropes snapped, releasing his upper body from its prison and he bent down to pry to others off his ankles. The curly haired Time Lord sprung up, just as onscreen the water pooled around his companion’s neck. The sound of choking now filled the room as she tried to keep her head out of the water, despite the fact her clothes were weighing her down and she didn't have the knowledge of how to keep afloat. He didn't have much time; he needed to find a way out. Now. He flung himself against a wall in a blind rage, hoping that his greater strength would help him succeed where his companion had failed. It didn’t. The wall did not move an inch. Enraged, he tried again and again, still to no avail. His companion’s choking was growing louder and louder as she swallowed more water, her head dipping below the water every so often and with each desperate cough, his determination to get free rose higher. He would get free. He would not let her down. Not his Peri. 

Suddenly, just as he was about to throw himself at the wall again, the choking and splashing stopped. All was silent except for the occasional slap of the water against the walls of the other chamber. Never one to admit defeat, the Doctor turned back to the screen to see what had caused it, despite knowing deep down what the cause was. His hearts came to a juddering stop. All that could be seen on the screen was water; there was no sign of Peri anymore. His mind rebelled against the fact that was presented to him just as his hearts gave in to the pain, yet, a small part of him still hoped. He dropped to his knees in front of the screen as the room was filled with the loud screeching of a microphone being switched on and a crackly voice announced monotonously _“Miss Brown has been…terminated…”_

The Doctor bowed his head, for once in his life admitting defeat, she was gone. Perpugilliam Brown was no more. His fists clenched helplessly on the floor as his whole body shook with desperate, choking sobs. All the fight had gone out of him. His Peri was gone. The person he cared about more than any other, the person he had vowed to protect no matter the cost had left him. He wept for her, remembering just how afraid she had looked when she’d realized what was happening, her face when she’d realized that he wouldn’t be coming to rescue her. His poor, poor Peri. What had she ever done to deserve this? It was all his fault. If he hadn't brought her here... What had he done?


End file.
